Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening walkthrough/M07

You start off in The Dark Corridor. Before you rush through the door, you can jump back up into the rafters and up the wall to collect the red orbs that were there in the previous mission. There is also the Secret Mission "Death from Above" in the alcove near the door, where you must remain airborne for 20 seconds. It's possible to complete at this point (you can lure the four Hell Prides into one of the doorways and continuously jump off them inside the doorway), but it lacks a surefire method until you acquire your fourth Devil Arm, Nevan, with its Air Slash and Air Raid aerial abilities.

Take the door now to enter the Heavenrise Chamber and jump down; you'll grab all those red orbs on the way back up. Go through the door to the Divine Library. The door seals in blue; to open it, run along the perimeter of the map until you see a group of three Damned Pawns (two Pawns and a Knight on harder settings) and grab the key item "Orihalcon Fragment". Defeating the Chessmen on the map is optional.

Back in the Heavenrise Chamber, hop onto the jump panels to grab all those orbs and ascend all the way up to the map "Pitch-black Void". There is a hidden red orb cache on the pillar on the very end of the ledge to the left, and a Blue Orb Fragment in the rafters (it can be a bit tricky to jump to). Taking the door will bring you to the Skull Spire; the Chessmen are optional enemies again. There are two doors, one of which is locked; take the other door to the left to enter the Room of Tranquil Souls. Approaching the altar-like statue prompts the introduction of a new demon, the Hell Greed, capable of summoning other Hells with its coffin and, if you're too close, knocking you down while swinging it in its summoning animation. They have an impressive amount of vitality, but try taking them out early to avoid having to deal with an enormous mob of other Hells later. Clearing the room will cause the key item "Siren's Shriek" to fall onto the altar. Take it and proceed to the Lift Room.

There's a Combat Adjudicator for Rebellion here that requires an SSS rank to break. Having Swordmaster makes this easier, but it's possible to do it without (Combo I, Combo II-cancel to Million Stab, Stinger, High Time, Helm Breaker, repeat). Insert the Orihalcon Fragment into the lift mechanism, then take the elevator back down to the Chamber of Echoes.

With the Siren's Shriek, you can now dispel the flaming barrier and enter the red door on the left side of the first floor. Again, the monsters in the hallway are optional, but there are a few breakables and a Gold/Yellow Orb if you head down the hall toward the camera. Go through the far door to the Cursed Skull Chamber. Attack the wall of skulls a few times to break it, then activate the damage wheel at the opposite end of the room to drop a wrecking-ball of skulls from the ceiling. You have to break it before it retracts to proceed, and the easiest way to do so is to simply hop on top of it and attack. Smashing it drops the key item "Crystal Skull", and picking it up will seal the room and spawn two waves of Hell Greeds. Take them out, then return to the Chamber of Echoes and ride the elevator back to the Lift Room.

Re-entering the Room of Tranquil Souls will spawn more Hell Greeds. Once you've cleared them and their minions out, a lone Hell Vanguard will appear. Fighting this one is no different from the boss version in Mission 2; defeat it and head back to the Skull Spire to unlock the other door with the Crystal Skull, and enter the Moonlit Mile.

A Red Orb crystal is on this map, as well as a Divinity Statue. Vergil awaits on the other side of the door, so adjust your style and arsenal as needed.

First playthrough:

The first thing to note about Vergil is that, like Agni & Rudra, he is capable of blocking your attacks if you try striking when his guard is up. He leaves himself open during and for a brief period after his attacks (which mostly have a rather long recovery time). He has 4 attacks: Yamato Combo, where he strikes twice with the katana's scabbard before drawing it in a horizontal slash; Rapid Slash, a move where he dashes forward quickly while brandishing Yamato; Upper Slash, where he performs an upward draw, then slashes downward; and Judgment Cut, a distance slash attack marked by dark purple orbs. All of these except for Judgment Cut can be dodged by jumping and Air Hiking; follow through with Helm Breaker after you jump to begin returning damage. After enough hits, Vergil will grunt loudly and be knocked back several paces; this means that he's regained his balance and will block if you try to continue attacking.

Vergil can teleport around the battlefield; when he teleports right next to you, he'll execute either Yamato Combo or Upper Slash. If he teleports away, he's preparing to use Judgment Cut. To dodge the slash orbs, keep moving, as there is a short delay between the orb formation and the actual slash (you can run towards him so you can begin attacking when he stops). Rapid Slash is a relatively infrequent move, as he mainly reserves it for retaliating after blocking one of your attacks.

Second playthrough:

Beowulf is a great weapon here; with a high damage output and the distance-closing properties of Killer Bee, it becomes easy to reach Vergil and attack even when he's using Judgment Cut. In addition, due to the angle of Killer Bee, stray slash orbs won't form on you while you're in your brief cooldown animation.

Note, however, that while it may be tempting to use Quicksilver to deal extra damage, it's only good for evading Vergil's attacks because Vergil is vulnerable for 13 hits (some attacks, like Helm Breaker, count as 2 hits), rather than a certain amount of time, and he can actually block your extra attacks while Time Lag is in effect.

If you are playing on Dante Must Die, Vergil gains the ability to use Spiral Swords (telegraphed by a a purple orb surrounding him, and he says "Don't get so cocky...") These can present a problem when he teleports right next to you, so whenever you hear the teleporting sound, jumping away or using Sky Star is generally advisable. After a few moments, they rearrange themselves to either circle you horizontally (and eventually stab toward you simultaneously; avoidable by jumping), circle you diagonally from above (similar to the horizontal pattern, but they fire one at a time so you only need to keep moving instead of jumping), or point at you from around Vergil (fires individually; easy to dodge by running or side rolling, but can be a bit tricky if he's too close).

Defeating Vergil automatically ends the mission.